


three units

by chancellorxofxtrash



Series: Chaos Zexal Trilogy [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Astral is mentioned a lot, Kissing, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Teenagers, Zexal Form
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:08:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26070916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancellorxofxtrash/pseuds/chancellorxofxtrash
Summary: Yuma was wondering what would Astral say to the current situation.Nevertheless, all he could do was to go forward with his own instincts as always, and on the road, figuring out his situation with Vector and Shark.
Relationships: Kamishiro Ryouga/Tsukumo Yuuma, Kamishiro Ryouga/Tsukumo Yuuma/Vector, Tsukumo Yuuma/Vector
Series: Chaos Zexal Trilogy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865443
Comments: 15
Kudos: 45





	three units

Yuma was aware that if anyone would have seen him doing things like this, they would have… well, they would not have thought him to be crazy. They would have been very understanding, but they would have felt sorry for him, they would have felt like Yuma needed support and they also probably would have felt awkward about it.

Of course not everyone, but…

“You know, sometimes I feel like I might be doing more harm than good. That maybe I’m just… hoping for too much, and it’s just gonna hurt them.”

There was no answer, obviously. There hadn’t been for a few years.

Yuma sighed, closing his hand around the Emperor’s Key.

He could never bear to take it off - he could say it wasn’t just because of Astral. He could have said he was used to wearing it even before Astral entered his life.

Honestly, it probably wouldn’t even have been completely a lie.

He  _ was  _ used to wearing it before he knew about Astral, let alone before being attached to him.

But…

He has met with Astral since - they went to the Astral World after the Numbers War ended, after all, and they helped them out with the newest crisis. And Astral was there, meeting him - a smile on his face, and Yuma felt like he had never been happier.

And they had to separate again afterwards.

_ We will meet again! _

Yuma said, and Astral smiled.

_ Yes, we will. And you are gonna bring it to ‘em, as always. _

It was a promise.

He  _ will  _ see Astral again.

Sometimes it felt like he had no idea  _ when  _ would that happen, though. Yuma sometimes wished he could just have a phone to call Astral with, just to  _ talk _ but he did not have technology to call other dimensions.

(Back then, sometimes they managed. When the three worlds were dangerously close, it was easier to contact each other then, no matter where they were.)

(But not like Astral had a spare D-glazer hidden in the Astral World that Yuma could have called. Astral didn’t even  _ need  _ a D-glazer. So many of Yuma’s friends didn’t actually need one and it was driving Yuma cr---)

(Anyways. He got off track. Point was, he couldn’t exactly call Astral to catch up with him.)

Honestly he wished he could have called Astral.

He understood Astral couldn’t visit or stay permanently… there was a sting in his heart sometimes still, and he was missing Astral, but he knew this had to be this way.

This wasn’t Astral’s world, but it was Yuma’s, and Astral wouldn’t have wanted him to close himself in and mope about missing him.

But really, they could have had phone reception over there. It would have made the distance easier and more bearable.

He missed Astral a lot in normal, quieter times - when his main problems were his studies or the fact that a prank war escalated between his friends again. He would have loved to call Astral to talk to him, to have someone who will always listen, and even if maybe he wouldn’t always fully understand him (although Yuma had the sinking suspicion that the longer they had known each other the more did Astral just pretend not to understand him. That guy liked to tease Yuma, despite all appearances), but he would always listen. And tell him off if he was an idiot. And Yuma would pout a little but it would be familiar and comfortable.

That was in calm times.

Now was not one of these times.

Now there was some kind of energy out - something controlling people, and occasionally striking.

Since their first battle they had learnt more about the cards these enemies used. They managed to work out strategies, but they weren’t anywhere closer to figuring out what they wanted. Kaito told Yuma once, that maybe there are some enemies he wasn’t meant to understand.

Yuma did not like that line of thought much.

Deep down he knew that was right - but sometimes, sometimes he still found himself wondering…

~*~

So once he brought it up to Kotori - because she was there, always there, and she always listening, always attentive - often more attentive than Yuma himself was, to be honest.

And also because Yuma was reasonably sure Kotori wouldn’t call him an idiot right as soon as he asked her the question.

“Kotori, do you think we could have reasoned with Don Thousand?”

To her credit, Kotori did not call him an idiot right out of the gate for that question.

Her eyes did widen and her jaw did drop upon hearing Yuma’s words, though.

“Wait, okay, let me explain!” Yuma raised his hands, flailing a bit. “I mean… Don Thousand was just… exiled so long ago because of that whole thing of the Astral world not wanting Chaos. Anyone would be pissed off if you were exiled for something you couldn’t help, right?”

“...right, but not everyone would want to destroy the whole world as revenge. Or basically three worlds. He had no problems with sacrificing the other Barians either! And what he did to…”

“I know, I know…” Yuma shook his head. “But… you know Kaito almost killed Shark and me when we first met, right? And… everyone else, a lot of them had… we had to face them as enemies at first, or later, but… we could work it out! I’m just wondering if we could have worked it out with him too. I mean I could convince Eliphas to give us a chance with Astral again, so why not him?”

Kotori was silent for a few moments.

“With everyone else… Kaito, III and his brothers, the Barians… there was time. You could meet with them multiple times. You could get through to them through perseverance. Don Thousand, I mean… the world was ending. All three worlds were ending.”

“...so you think it was just because… we didn’t have enough time?”

There was a bit of hesitation in Kotori’s next words.

“...also do you think the other Barians would have forgiven him?”

Yuma was silent for a few moments, looking down on his hands.

“...they had forgiven a lot of others.”

“You know not everyone forgave Vector.”

“...what about you?”

“...I don’t want him to hurt us again.”

“He won’t!” Yuma shook his head vehemently. “I’m sure he won’t!”

“Yuma you had always been sure that he wouldn’t.”

“I know, but…” Yuma hesitated. “...I know he wouldn’t.”

“Is this because of that Chaos Zexal thing?”

Yuma felt his own face heat up, and he looked away.

“I--- I mean kind of? I was in his head when we formed that, after all. And I had to trust him and he needed to trust me and it worked out! It saved us! 

Kotori sighed, shaking her head.

“I know nothing I would say would make you be more careful around him,” she said, with tired fondness in her voice. “That’s what everyone else is for.”

“...Shark said something like that.”

“You are very important to Shark, obviously. And he has a lot of reasons to be pissed at Vector. So it adds up.”

_ Very important to Shark. _

He couldn’t help it, he really didn’t want to think of the way Shark kissed him and he felt his face heat up again.

So he could only hope Kotori wouldn’t notice.

“...oh? Did something happen with Shark?”

...of course she noticed.

“Wh--- why would you ask that?” Yuma gave out a nervous laugh. “That’s not… that’s--”

“You were blushing!”

“Was not!”

“...you still are.”

“It’s just hot in here!” Yuma fanned himself for good measure. “It’s not like… it’s not if…”

“I bet he was jealous of you and Vector forming Chaos Zexal.”

Yuma’s hand dropped.

“...kinda. But I feel like…” Yuma hesitated. “It’s almost like they are getting along better. We hung out a few times together and they didn’t really want to kill each other! That’s a bonus.”

Kotori looked at him, tilting her head a little.

“You seem unsure.”

“...I want them to get along but I’m also… what if I do something wrong with wanting that?”

“...are they trying? Both of them?”

“I think they do.”

“Then let them figure out what they want,” Kotori was silent for a few moments, before there was a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Well I guess they like you better than how much they hate each other~”

A small squeak left Yuma’s mouth and he felt his face heat up again, and Kotori laughed.

“Oh, come on, Yuma. I’m sure you could guess.”

“...guessing it is one thing, others talking about it is another!”

Kotori was still laughing, but her laughter actually felt like easing some of Yuma’s worries.

~*~

He did not want to do more harm than good.

But even after that initial partially-incidental movie night, sometimes the three of them happened to hang out together. Yuma sometimes wondered if neither of them wanted to leave the other alone with him, which would have been annoying but also…

Also he enjoyed hanging out with both of them at the same time.

“I do wonder what would you say,” Yuma muttered, closing his hand around the Emperor’s Key. “I bet you would notice things I don’t. Or maybe you wouldn’t. Anyway I would love to hear your opinion about this right now.”

Astral wasn’t omniscient or all-knowing, or… anything like that. He was a duelling genius, yes, but he didn’t have the best social skills, so… maybe he would have understood the current situation even less than Yuma did.

Which either way would not have been that bad. Talking about their confusion with someone.

He really missed Astral, and he was really, really looking forward to the next time they had an excuse to meet.

~*~

“Hey! Yuma! Wait up!”

Yuma stopped on his tracks, and looked behind him - and to his surprise, he saw Rio Kamishiro hurrying towards him on the street.

“Oh, Shark’s sister! Hey!”

“I told you not to call me that!” Rio scolded him and there was a mischievous smirk on her face, no real ire in her voice. “We gotta talk.”

“Um… sure? Is there something wrong?”

It’s not like Rio wasn’t his friend - because she was.

But Rio never asked help from him, Rio was headstrong and determined, just as her brother was, and there was almost no hurdle she could not climb through.

Yuma really had no idea what she wanted from him.

“Oh there is something wrong alright. Ryouga being dumb is what’s wrong. At this point you have to be the one who takes steps if you want something here,” Rio shook her head. “And sort out whatever is up with Vector. Stop dragging it out.”

Yuma’s face flared up again, as---

_ Shark’s lips on his lips, Vector’s arms around his waist. _

“That’s… it’s…”

“Oh come on. You aren’t gonna deny it as well, will you?”

“Well…” There was no point to it, despite the way his heart dropped to his stomach. “But it’s… not that simple. The three of us had been kind of hanging out more and more lately but---”

“Wait. Ryouga is hanging out with Vector, without either of them murdering each other?”

“...well neither of them is dead yet, so yeah.”

“Huh,” Rio seemed deep in her thoughts. “So… what are you planning to do?”

Yuma looked down, playing with the Key in his neck.

“Don’t know. I kind of… kind of told them I can’t… I mean I didn’t want to rush them into anything so I figured I would wait for them to ask. But I’m not sure if they would ask me to choose that I…”

“That you  _ could  _ choose.”

“Yeah.”

“What if it won’t work out? What if the two of them won’t want to get into that?”

Yuma’s hand tightened around the Emperor’s Key, its edges digging into his palm.

And then he looked up, and smiled at Rio.

“Then we will probably stay as friends. They are both very important to me, you know.”

“...Yuma, you are truly too optimistic for this world.”

“Huh?!”

“Anyway. You can’t wait on them forever to ask. Sooner or later you will have to face the question between you all, and how to progress. Just saying.”

~*~

Rio was right. Obviously.

She usually was.

Shark didn’t kiss him since, and Vector was his usual self, and Yuma had no idea what to even do.

Then his father called him.

Ever since Yuma’s parents came back, they were still often on the road - sometimes Yuma accompanied them, sometimes even others went with them. A few times even Akari could be convinced to go along on these adventures, and Yuma always enjoyed those instances.

“There had been some weird anomalies appearing not far from Heartland City,” His father had told him. “I think some kind of ruins. Probably not easy to see without having been affected by energies from other worlds, so if you hurry, you could check it out before authorities do.”

Well.

That was as good a chance as any.

“Sooo I think we should go adventuring! Dad thinks it might have something to do with the weird problems we had been having lately. And even if it doesn’t it will be fun! What do you think, Shark?”

Shark was silent, looking at Yuma through the D-glazer.

“Who else do you think we should invite? Kaito? The girls? I’m not putting up with Rio screaming from some wild cats or something, I’m saying that much.”

“I… thought it would be enough if just… a few of us. Not to attract too much attention. I think the three of us would be fine, actually.”

“...three. As in you, me, and…?”

Silence.

Shark frowned.

“Absolutely not.”

“Oh come on, Shark! You had been getting along with him lately!”

“Not killing him when he climbs through the window to crash movie night is  _ not  _ getting along with him.”

“Anyway, see you tomorrow morning! We have to leave early to get there with a bus, we can’t take the Different Dimension Airship this time, after all.”

“Wait Yu---”

“We can take the bus quite close, actually, but even then, there will be a few hours of walk until we get to the ruins so be sure to pack well! See you tomorrow!”

“Yuma---”

Yuma hung up.

“I think that went well,” He said, cheerfully, while scrolling through the rest of his contacts. “Now to the other one.”

Vector didn’t actually need to be convinced for that long.

Now he just had to hope both of them would show up.

~*~

He was… acutely aware that maybe he should not have trusted Vector. To be fair, that sentiment could have been extended to Shark and the rest of the Barians too. But Vector, Vector was always his own category. He was always a wild card, the one who betrayed them all multiple times, who even grabbed onto Yuma’s hand, almost pulling him down to their death, while Astral’s, Kotori’s and Shark’s (or Nasch’s, maybe then it was more Nasch) voices rang out after them---

And Vector who let him go.

When Alit heard about that, he said it was probably Vector’s first selfless action in a few hundred years.

But everyone deserved one more chance, and that’s why he even had questions about… well.

But that was a different topic altogether, and one he couldn’t afford to get lost in again.

He had a ruin to explore, and a weird relationship to untangle.

He could do it.

He just had to bring it to ‘em, after all.

~*~

Yuma actually arrived early to the bus stop - it was not something he usually did, but he was restless.

“Helllooo, Yuuuuma~”

He couldn’t help but smile a little when he heard the familiar voice, and he looked up, indeed seeing Vector skip his way towards Yuma.

“Alone? Nasch isn’t coming?”

“I’m sure he will!” He will, won’t he? He has to… “I’m sure he is just taking his time.”

Vector hummed, leaning by the side of the bus stop, tapping his feet.

“You sure? He said so?”

“I’m sure he’ll come.”

Vector laughed a little, shaking his head.

“Did you tell him I’m gonna be here?”

“Yup!”

“Then he probably won’t come.”

“Why are you two like this?” Yuma huffed. “We had fun on movie nights! And other places! Why is this time different?”

“Running into each other is different than actually planning to go somewhere together, Yuma.”

There was a brief bluntness in Vector’s tone, but his entire stance didn’t show that he would have been bothered, at all.

Yuma shook his head with a pout, and he really could have pointed it out that it was a bit too much of a coincidence that Vector had an uncanny ability to interrupt whenever Shark was hanging out with Yuma, and that it was true the other way around too. That despite all their complaints, these occasions usually ended with the three of them having fun together.

Or…

At least  _ Yuma  _ was having fun.

Now, waiting there, and Shark nowhere in sight, he was having second thoughts.

The bus was arriving, and Yuma’s hands tightened around his backpack.

“Hey, Yuma, cheer up! Not your fault Nasch decided to be a spoilsport. Look at the bright side! I will sit right next to yo---”

“In your dreams, Vector.”

Yuma jumped, and Vector glanced behind them, and there was Shark, with a frown on his face, seemingly not being happy about being there at all, but Yuma’s own smile returned on his face.

“Oh, Nasch~” Vector knew exactly how to almost sing Shark’s name in a way to make it sound probably as annoying as possible. “I didn’t think you would show~”

“You wished I wouldn’t,” Shark looked over at Yuma, their eyes met… and Shark frowned even more. “Wipe off that smile off your face. Let’s get on the bus and let’s get this over with.”

“If you want to hurry, you shouldn’t have come,” Vector pointed out with a smirk. “Seeing as we will probably be away for a looong tiiiime~”

“As if I will pass up a chance to figure out what is going on,” Shark snapped back, before literally starting to push Yuma and Vector towards the bus. “Get on, already.”

“Let’s go!” Yuma said, finally finding his words again. “We gotta bring it to ‘em!”

Of course figuring out where they would sit was a different matter entirely as Vector wanted to sit next to Yuma, Shark  _ didn’t  _ want Vector to sit next to Yuma, so Yuma just grabbed both of their wrists to pull them to the end of the bus where the three of them could sit next to each other.

Yuma was sitting in the middle, and he figured it was gonna be a long ride when Vector was trying to share earphones with him and Shark threatened to throw said earphones out a window.

It was gonna be worth it in the end, though.

He hoped.

~*~

Walking through the forest was one thing. They could only follow the path until a certain point, but Yuma had his father’s directions to follow, and experience in adventuring, and the other two followed him. He knew Shark was at this point used to a lot of this, but he wondered about Vector - then again, the Barian World was way more harsh than a forest was.

“So. We need to climb this mountain, huh?”

“According to my dad’s directions, yes,” Yuma nodded, glancing down on his D-glazer. “I don’t see much from down here. It might be on the top of it or in a cave or something. But according to the signals my dad sent, our best chance is to climb here.”

So they did.

The mountain was not the easiest to climb, harder than that one they had to defeat when they went to Mizael’s ruins.

Yuma climbed first, and behind them the other two, and Vector couldn’t keep quiet.

“What’s up, Nasch, can’t keep up?”

“Shut it.”

“Awww, grumpy. Maybe you should have spent less on a navy and should have climbed more mountains.”

“I ruled a kingdom surrounded by an ocean,” Shark hissed, and Vector laughed.

“Anyway, your majesty, seems like a gross oversight to m---”

Vector tripped on his words, and there was a sound, and by the time Yuma looked back, his heart had skipped a beat, as he saw Vector falling.

_ Falling like back then, but now it wasn’t terror in his eyes, there was no silent acceptance either - there was shock and surprise, and he--- _

Shark grabbed his hand.

Vector’s body slammed into the mountain, but Shark’s firm hand kept him in place.

Yuma could not see Shark’s face, but he could see Vector’s, as he looked up at Shark, surprise written all over his face.

And then Vector slowly grinned.

“Now what, Nasch? Gonna drop me?”

Silence.

“...Shark…?”

Yuma barely heard his own voice, and Shark let out an annoyed grunt.

“If you don’t steady your feet so you can hold yourself up, you are going to get dropped, yes. Don’t be a dead weight, jackass.”

“Awww. What’s up, Nasch? Going soft?”

“You are still not moving your hand and feet, but your mouth keeps yapping.”

“I can multitask, thank you very much.”

“I am still waiting for you to prove that.”

“Still soft, I see.”

“If you fall, Yuma would insist on climbing down to scrape your remains up from the rocks and I don’t feel like wasting more time here than necessary. Now get a move on, before my hand starts slipping.”

Vector snickered, but actually did do what he was told, trying to find a steady grasp for himself, and finally Shark did let him go.

And Yuma couldn’t help but smile a little, seeing them, and when Shark looked back at him, he scowled.

“Stop smiling, idiot.”

“This is what adventuring is about! We look out for each other!”

“You keep saying the stupidest things.”

Yuma couldn’t help smiling, as he continued climbing upwards.

After that, the climb went without any real incidents.

But they probably had the real challenge up ahead still.

~*~

Turns out, the cave theory was correct, as they soon found themselves by a cave - it did not seem very natural, considering it looked like someone carved out an entrance from the rocks.

“Huh. It definitely had to emerge recently,” Shark said, his eyes going over the patterns of the entrance. “No way in hell travellers or archeologists wouldn’t be all over this place otherwise.”

“Has to be something supernatural too, I mean…” Yuma waved his hand towards it. “No way someone could carve this out overnight.”

Suddenly a deep sound resonated from deep within a cave - and a cold, chilly rush of air burst outside, which made Yuma shiver.

On the other hand, Vector snickered.

“That sure seems like an invitation to me~ Would be for the best intentions if we entered, wouldn’t it? After all it’s rude to show up at someone’s doorstep, get invited in and then walk away, is it not?”

“Say  _ best intentions  _ again, and I will push you down the mountain,” Shark hissed, and Vector grinned.

“Oh but Nasch, you had just shown us you wouldn’t do that~”

“Don’t push me.”

“Let’s just… go,” Yuma shook his head. “Let’s see what this is about.”

~*~

There were writings on the wall - carvings neither of them could understand.

“It does look similar to the text on the Numbers cards,” Yuma muttered, while taking pictures of them. “Maybe Durbe or someone can make sense of it.”

“If someone can make sense of this that’s the nerd,” Vector said, hands in the pockets of his jacket, eyes fixed on the walls. “You know what this reminds me of, right?”

“Huh?” Yuma glanced back, and Shark’s eyes narrowed, as he answered. 

“Like the writings of the wall of our ruins.”

“Yup. I bet this is gonna tell us a story too, once we decipher it.”

Yuma put his D-glazer away, and looked deeper into the cavern.

Something was waiting for them.

But it will be fine, right?

He had the other two on his sides.

So the only thing they had left was keep going on.

~*~

The opponent was almost incorporeal, floating over a giant pool, unblinking eyes focusing on them.

“Who… what are you?”

“We are the ancient ones,” The being’s voice was like multiple people had been speaking at once. “The ones the world forgot. We will make the world remember.”

“And what do you want from us?” Shark asked, and the being smiled.

“I will absorb all of you and be stronger. Then all of us will be stronger. But we need to conduct a ritual. If you wish to leave the ruins, you need to defeat me. If I win---”

“Yeah, got it,” Vector rolled his eyes. “We get absorbed.”

Obviously the ritual consisted of duelling.

At this point Yuma was barely even surprised.

_ Duel disk, set! _

_ D-glazer, set! _

_ Duel! _

~*~

Yuma had duelled on Shark’s side multiple times, and duelled with Vector twice already - once when he was still pretending to be Rei, and once…

Well.

Nevertheless, he didn’t think it was going to work as well as it did. Maybe because the spirit facing them was making them focus way too much, probably.

Did not stop Shark from telling Vector at one point  _ if you use my monster to tribute, I will tribute your ass I swear,  _ and it didn’t stop Vector from grinning and doing it anyways.

But things weren’t going that well.

Yuma was gritting his teeth, after a particularly strong attack sent him flying backwards, and he heard them call his name, and for a few moments, there were dancing lights in front of his eyes.

“...I’m fine.”

He said, trying to ignore the way his voice was shaky, and he pushed himself back to his feet.

Vector was silent, and Shark’s eyes narrowed.

Then Sharked looked away, eyes fixed on the opponent.

“...go for it, you two.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t play dumb. We need to win. Go for it.”

“Oooh~” Vector grinned widely. “How nice of you~”

“...you could also be there, you know.” Yuma found himself saying that suddenly, and both of them looked at him. “I mean…” He scratched the back of his head. “We are in a very bad position. We might need all the power we can get, you know?”

Shark looked away again, scoffing.

“If you expect me to let Vector in my head---”

“I’m not happy about that idea either, Nasch, but I don’t intend to be all broody McBroodster about it.”

“I am  _ not--” _

“Please,” Yuma interrupted them, grabbing both of their hands without thinking. “I’m sure the three of us can do it. If we work together,  _ really  _ together, we can win.”

Shark looked at him, a serious look in his eyes.

“You expect me to trust Vector?”

“Trust  _ me, _ Shark.”

There were a few more moments where Shark was still looking at him, and then sighed, and just weaved their fingers together.

“I’m already regretting this.”

Vector snickered, also following Shark’s movement, to firmly hold Yuma’s hand.

“C’mon, Nasch~ Cheer up! Can’t work if you are not relaxed, you know~ Just enjoy it~”

“Shut up before I change my mind.”

_ We build the overlay network with the three of us! _

~*~

Obviously they had no mouth in this form either, and Yuma could sense a flash of amusement from Vector’s thoughts when he realised that was the first thing Yuma noticed, and he could almost  _ feel  _ Shark rolling his eyes.

They also had long hair, around their waist, sticking into multiple directions, and a dark blue colour, with orange fringes. Their skin was a darker gray tone, and they were obviously wearing armor, but a darker purple-black one this time - they did not have wings, but had a long cape behind them, and clawed fingers.

When they glanced down to the pool, Yuma realised they had red eyes, not mismatched this time.

It felt… fragile.

It felt like the wrong move could make the three of them splinter and fall apart, it never felt like that previously, but somewhere between his own thoughts, Vector’s erratic energy and Shark’s ever growing annoyance, Yuma wondered how much longer could they keep this up.

So they had to finish it quickly.

And so they did.

~*~

After they won, there was a flash of light, and they woke up at the base of the mountain, back in their own bodies, and Yuma was  _ exhausted _ .

It felt like he could have fallen asleep right there, but he couldn’t, so he pushed himself up to sitting position, and the other two were already sitting, although they did not seem all that tired.

_ Figures. When Vector and I did this, Vector wasn’t as tired as I was. And now I overlaid with two of them. _

“I have a feeling if we were to climb back up, we wouldn’t find the cave,” Shark said, eyes fixed on the mountain. “Good thing we took pictures. With that we may be able to figure out more about this.”

“Uh-huh,” Vector tilted his head. “You are horrible at pillow talk.”

_ “Stop that.” _

“Stop what?”

“Stop being you.”

“Awwww. You didn’t actually hate it  _ that  _ much,” Vector was grinning again. “And no use lying! I was in your head, Nasch~”

“Shut up.”

_ “Make me.” _

To be fair, Yuma was certainly tired, so he wasn't thinking clearly.

And also his head was starting to hurt from the bickering, so he just lunged forward, and pressed his lips to Vector’s lips.

It took Vector a few moments to kiss back, but then he got  _ clingy,  _ and maybe he did not plan for the kiss to last this long - but when he pulled away, he saw Vector’s freckles from up close, and the way his face was a bit flushed, even if there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Look at you. You are blushing.”

Shark’s voice was almost delighted, and Vector looked taken aback - obviously he was expecting some display of jealousy again.

“Am not!” Vector complained, blushing even harder.

“Yes. Yes you are,” Shark rolled his eyes, pushing himself to his feet. “Come on. If we want to reach the last bus home, we need to hurry.”

Yuma scrambled to his feet, and nodded.

He could sleep on the bus back there.

(The fact that he was clinging onto Shark’s arm for much of the way back for support was neither here nor there, even if Vector was snapping pictures of it, and apparently sending it to the other Barians.)

(Not even Shark complained that much, apart from calling Vector an annoying pest.)

~*~

He really did fall asleep on the bus and he woke up to the faint sound of a camera going off.

Nevertheless, he did not move, as he was comfortable on Vector’s shoulder, but he heard Vector snorting.

“Really, Nasch?”

“Everyone is getting on my case because of the picture you posted,” Shark said, deadpan. “Consider this payback.”

“So we are even?”

“Not even close.”

Vector snorted.

“Oh, of course. You need to be a brooding jackass.”

“...but you obviously care about him.”

“And you are obviously head over heels for him.”

“And he is attached to us both.”

“Wow. Figured it out on your own or needed to be in his head to figure it out?”

“...that guy wears his heart on his sleeve.”

Vector snickered a bit, and Yuma felt Vector’s fingers in his hair, and it was oddly soothing.

“Hey, Nasch, we weren’t actually  _ that _ bad back there.”

“No,” Shark admitted. “No, we weren’t.”

“Look at you! Admitting I’m right about more and more things lately. Hey Nasch, are you ma--”

A lot of things happened at once.

Yuma felt Shark’s body pressing up on his other side, and Vector grew suddenly quiet, as if his mouth was muffled by----

Oh.

_ Oh?! _

Then Shark pulled away, and there was stunned silence, and Yuma still didn’t open his eyes.

“You know, Vector,” Shark’s voice was taunting. “I never would have taken you to be a blushy nerd of all things.”

“Shut. Up. You are the one who kissed me! What happened with not trusting me and all that?”

“I still don’t,” Shark’s voice was casual. “But this works at shutting you up.”

“Shutting me up my a--”

Vector moved suddenly, no doubt being agitated by what Shark said, which sent Yuma stumbling forward with a yelp, only for two pairs of hands to grab him and pull him back.

Yuma laughed, as the other two started to bicker about whose fault was it, and Yuma wondered again what would Astral say to all of this.

Well.

He’ll just have to wait and ask him next time they meet.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this concludes the trilogy. I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!


End file.
